Bonus weblog material:
This is one of my favorite stories:
“A man from another Unit working in Serbia, during a conversation with Dr. Inglis poured out his woes with regard to the dissensions in his Unit. He wound up by saying, “I supposed you never have these troubles—you seem such a happy family!” “I looked at him, writes Dr. Inglis, “to see if he was laughing. But he wasn’t. He was in dead earnest. So I hid my smile and said, ‘Well, perhaps women can manage other women better than men can!’”
It’s funny, how tricky perception can be. I’d always thought, from reading different accounts, that Mrs Harley resigned from admin of the Transport Column because she really felt she’d be doing better with relief work in Monastir. But then I read a diary of one of the drivers, and it turns out they were at odds with Harley’s authority from the beginning. They were always taking cars off when she had forbidden them too—but they couldn’t think of any reasons they shouldn’t pick up the wounded.
I’m not sure exactly what happened… But someone must have complained—a representative from the Scottish Women’s Hospitals Committee came out to investigate, and at the end of their six month contract Mrs Harley and her daughter went off to Monastir. Three months later she was dead, struck in the head by a stray bit of shrapnel.
It’s all a little confusing—I know I’ll have a hard time writing it. But my part is not nearly as difficult as Stacy’s, who had the warring Haverfield and Chesney, who could give the French-German rivalry a run for their money; and there’s the theory that Hodges resigned because she didn’t get on with Inglis—who is practically a saint. So it’s not like we’ll be presenting a picture of these women working harmoniously together in a cheerful (and safe) atmosphere. I think there might be a predisposed tendency to perceive these women as all very self-sacrificing and easy to get along with, when that’s just not the case. But it does make it a lot more interesting! I only wish Harley had lived to write her side of the story.
Thu Apr 21 2005 15:48 PST Ack:
I am watching my Serbia article slowly climb in word count, page and footnote number. Clearly this is the logical occurance when one is writing something, but I'm trying not to be alarmed all the same. It's not going to be fun to cut. I'll be needing that machete.